Toilet-paper holder.



H. D. WOOD.

TOILET PAPER HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.2, 1914. 1,1 0%,284.

Patented July 21, 1914...

PV/TNE S ATTORNEY.

5 co., wismrvmon, v. c.

UNITED stains rnnnr .EFXGE.

HERBERT :0. W001), or PHOENIX, ivnw YORK. v

TOILET-PAPER HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentd July 21, 1914 Application filed March 2, 1914. f Serial No. 821,846.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HERBERT D. WOOD, of Phoenix, in the'county of Oswego, in the Stateof New York, have invented new and useful Improvements inToilet-Paper Holders, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,

edges, may be supported in a similar position with its free end hanging vertically from the reel, preferably at the rear side thereof. In this class of holders, the transverse slits in the paper occur at regular'intervals so as to always appear at the front and substantially midway between the lower and upper edges of the reel, which, together with the bracket, are provided with cooperative stops to limit the rocking or oscillatory movement of the reel to substantially onehalf of a complete revolution, produced by graspingthe lower end of the paper between the fingers and drawing it downwardly .thereby bringing the slit of the first section .of the paper to be torn off at the back of the reel substantially midway between its lower and upper edges. 1 have found, however, that when the reel is limited by the stops to approximately a half revolution, or less, the portion thereofwhich is to be torn ofi draws tightly against the back of the main body of the roll and that in order to tear the paper at the slit, it is necessary to give the end ofthe paper a side draft, which frequently results'in tearing the paper between the first slit and the end thereof, which of course is objectionable and results'in waste of paper, aside from the inconvenience to the operator.

The primary object, therefore, 'of'my' invention is not only to position the-limiting stops so as to allow the reel to rotate through morethan a half of a revolution, or rather, beyond a vertical edgewise position after having been moved through an arc of 180 so that the reel will incline upwardly and rearwardly from. its lower edge when brought to a stop, but alsoto cause one end of the reel to tilt upwardly thereby placing the greater tension during the downward pull upon the paper upon the raised edge of such paper, whereby it is more easily tornv off at the transverse slit running transversely from such elevated'edge, the rocking of the reel beyond a vertical edgewise positlon serving to clear the free end thereof from the mainbody of the roll to additionally facilitate the tearing off along the transverse slit.

Other objects and uses relating to specific parts ofv the device will be brought out in the following description.

. In the drawings-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toilet paper holder embodying the various features of myinvention. Fig. 2. is a front face view of the same device showing one of the-bearings and paper roll in section, the reel being shown in elevation. Fig.3 is an endview of the same device showing by dotted lines the position of the reel when tearing off a section of paper.

. The device shown comprises a bracket 1 having a vertically disposed "back plate 2- provided with slots or apertures 3 for receiving screws 4 by which the bracket may be secured to a wall or other convenient support, the lower edge of ,theback plate being provided with forwardly projecting arms 5 spaced a suflicient distance apart to receive between them a paper-reel 6 Thisreel is substantially fiat in cross section and rectangular in face view, and is provided with central end journals or pintles 7 and '8 journaled in suitable bearings-9 and l0- in the front ends of the arms 5-, said reel having its normal lower side weighted to cause it to assume a normal vertical position, or rather, to normally stand edgewise vertically with freedom to be rocked in either direction.

' One of the pintles, as 7, is preferably formed upon the outer end of an axially movable bolt 11 having its inner. end projecting into an opening 12- in the central'portion of the reel for accessibility when the paper is removed-to permit the bolt to be drawn by handinwardly, thereby displacing thepintle '7',from its bearing spring ,l3 which serves" to retract the bolt or ratherto, force it, to its operative position in the bearing 9 when the reel is replaced in the frame or bracket.

A roll -14- of toilet paper is wound more or less tightly around and upon the reel so as to assume substantially the same transverse form thereof and is slit transversely at -15-- at regular intervals throughout its length and extending inwardly from its longitudinal edges, thereby dividing the roll into a series of sections capable of being easily torn off, each section having a length substantially equal to half of the perimeter of the reel and arranged so as to bring each slit normally at the front of the roll midway between the lower and upper edges of said reel, whereby when the reel is operated through approximately a half revolution by drawing down upon the lower end of the paper, the first slit will be brought to the rear of the reel and substantially midway between its lower and upper edges with the free end of the paper hanging downwardly some distance below the lower edge of said reel, where it may be conveniently grasped between the fingers and torn off at the slits.

Suitable means is provided for limiting the rocking movement of the reel from its normal position through an arc of a little more than 180, or suflioient to allow the free end of thepaper to hang from the top edge of the reel clear from the main body.

of the roll, and for this purpose I have provided one of the arms, as the right hand arm --5, of the bracket with a limiting stop --16- disposed in the path of movement of a cooperative stop 17 on the adjacent end of the reel at one side of the corresponding pintle 8, the stop 16-i being preferably made of rubber to form yielding and noiseless abutment tor the coacting stop 17, said stops being arranged so as to allow the reel to rotate somewhat more than a half revolution for the purpose described.

in elongating the bearing 10 for the ad jacent pintle 8 so as to form an upwardly and forwardly curved slot 18 of sufficient length to allow the adjacent end of the reel to move forwardly and upwardly to a plane above that of the opposite end when the stop 17 is brought into cooperative engagement with its abutment 16-, so that the abutment constitutes a separate fulcrum at the rear of the pintle -8 about which the adjacent end of the reel may be additionally rocked by the en gagement of the stop -17 therewith, in the manner shown more clearly by dotted lines in Fig. 3. This upward tilting of one end of the reel throws the free end of the paper from a vertical position, that is, it

elevates the upper edge of the roll nearest the bearing 10- some distance above the opposite edge so that when the free end of the paper is grasped between the fingers in the act of drawing it down and thereby unwinding it from the reel, which also ail'ects the rocking of the reel from its normal position in the manner described, the greatest tension will be placed upon the elevated edge of the paper, thereby causing it to tear at the slit with greater facility and with less liability of tearing the paper at other portions than the slit, which results in a great saving of the paper and less annoyance to the operator, it being understood that after each section of paper is torn 01f the reel with the roll thereon returns to its normal position, leaving the free end of the paper hanging from the upper edge of the reel along the rear side thereof and downwardly some distance below the same, the inclined slot in the bearing -10- causing the adjacent pintle to return to its normal position against the rear end of the slot.

The operation of my invention will now be readily understood upon reference to the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings, and although I have shown specific means for affecting the upward tilting of one end of the reel by the downward draft upon the free end of the paper when the reel reaches the limit of its rocking movement, it is evident that this construction may be modified without departing from the spirit of my invention and there fore I do not wish to limit myself to the exact structure shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. A toilet paper holder comprising a support having end bearings, one of which is elongated, a reel journaled in said bearings, and cooperative means on the sup port and reel for causing said reel to shift 7 its position in the elongated bearing as the a reel journaled in said bearings and normally resting at one end against the lower end of the inclmed bearing, and cooperative stops on the ends of the reel and bracket adjacent the inclined bearing for limiting the rocking movement of the reel and causing its adjacent end to ride up the inclined bearing as the paper 1s unwound.

4. A toilet paper holder comprising a In witness whereof I have hereunto set suplport, aureel journaled in the support my hand this 16 day of February, 1914. an norma y resting in a orizontal position, andoooperative means on the support HERBERT O and reel for lifting one end of said reel from Witnesses: its normal position when the paper is un- IRVING S. WOOD,

Wound therefrom. E. G. HUTOHINSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

